


Sticky Situation

by ch0imineul



Category: H&D (Korea Band), Produce 101 (TV), UNIQ (Band), X1 (Korea Band)
Genre: A Thrilling Saga, Canon Compliant, Co-workers, Fluff, Just Another Person, M/M, Self-Indulgent, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, i promise i can write better than this lol, non-au, seungyul nation rise
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-02
Updated: 2019-09-02
Packaged: 2020-10-05 11:36:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,255
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20488253
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ch0imineul/pseuds/ch0imineul
Summary: Seungyoun could still remember rushing to go inside the bathroom to check for himself whether or not Hangyul was really asked the same question, too, as soon as they got inside their dorms; could still recall feeling the blood drain out from his face as he stared at the screen and confirmed it."Who is Seungyoun to Hangyul?"And the younger ticked all of it:Co-worker, Roommate, Lover, Human, etc.Right then and there, he regretted ticking just "Co-Worker" mostly because he'd done it for very petty purposes. He's stupid, ok?also, what the delulu author wishes to have actually happened in real life





	Sticky Situation

**Author's Note:**

> it gets lighter as you read further into this half-assed fic. i intended this to be heavy on angst inistially, but idk man. maybe shifting to fluff is my coping mechanism. because the Sticky Note Saga really gave me über angsty feels irl lol i crie

Seungyoun had assumed that Hangyul declining his offer to order midnight snacks only meant that the younger wanted to hit the hay early. But then Seungyoun couldn't shake off the feeling that Hangyul was avoiding him also. So when the younger didn't make a move to get ready for bed yet at an hour past midnight, Seungyoun became even more troubled.

He laid in his bed and waited for Hangyul to come in, but the younger seemed to still be enjoying his time watching TV with Wooseok and Hyeongjun.

Seungyoun wished it didn't matter to him that those two were also the members whom Hangyul had been spending a lot of time with these past few days. (Hyeongjun's face had almost always been in the selfies of Hangyul that got uploaded and Hangyul, though particularly touchy and clingy to Seungyoun himself, was the same towards Wooseok. And that didn't sit too well with Seungyoun. But then again,  _What right does Seungyoun even have, to feel this way, though?_)

Seungyoun shook his head in the dark at the reminder of how poorly he chose to take <strike>these jealousy</strike> matters into his own hands, which was by deliberately flirting with other members on-cam. Especially with Wooseok.  _Damn you, Wooseok. _

Sheer genius. Not. And Seungyoun couldn't believe he let himself be so affected so as to flirt with others onstage in hopes that doing so  would ruffle up Hangyul's feathers a bit.

This wasn't so like Seungyoun. When did he become so petty? What was it with the younger that made him feel this way? God, this really was getting out of control. He wasn't naturally inclined to overthink and be jealous but seriously, Lee Hangyul was turning out to be such a game-changer.

Seungyoun wished that Hangyul staying outside their room until late had nothing to do with the sticky note question that Seungyoun answered during their fansign earlier.

It had gotten fans calling the two of them "Co-Workers" and "Colleagues" (in sarcasm) all over social media.

Seungyoun was aware that a lot of fans were pairing him with Hangyul so it really was petty of him to shake things up a bit by ticking just "Co-Worker" when he was asked,_ "Who is Hangyul to Seungyoun?"_ Just for kicks. Besides, it wasn't as if Hangyul had no other members he's being paired with.

That teaser which Hangyul uploaded with Wooseok still made Seungyoun's stomach turn. He didn't like seeing Hangyul's eyes burn with dark passion for someone else that wasn't him. At all. _(_ _Well, shit. I'm whipped, aren't I?)_

And added to this jealousy over the non-existent distance that Wooseok and Hangyul kept between their bodies in the teaser, was also the selfie that never happened.  Seungyoun had actually thought that Hangyul will ask to take a selfie with him next, when fans had noticed that Hangyul was uploading selfies with the members one at a time, based on their final ranking.

And he looked forward to it—for the most obvious reasons. After all, the two of them  <strike>might</strike> have been dancing back and forth between the threshold separating friends and something more for a while now so it shouldn't be too hard for Hangyul to ask him for a selfie. Of course, Seungyoun was too cool and proud to be the one to ask Hangyul for a selfie.

Now, Seungyoun laid flat on his back as he wallowed in his shallowness and pettiness, wondering where this "sticky situation" left him and his attraction towards the younger.

Truth be told, he had initially wanted Hangyul to find out about the sticky note question himself so that the younger will make a cute fuss over it. Maybe Hangyul would playfully throw back to the older all the effort he put into making Seungyoun's birthday celebration special. Maybe Hangyul will pout and be all whiny, like a cute clingy little baby bat (because his fangs doesn't make him a vampire, no). And maybe Seungyoun could use that opportunity to bring up the matter about the selfie, and _then_ take pleasure in the flirty back-and-forth banters that was sure to proceed soon after which, never failing to make Seungyoun feel all warm & gooey inside. Not that it was obvious.

In Seungyoun's own humble opinion, he was good at hiding his own feelings. 

But then again, none of these would have happened if Wooseok hadn't brought up the entirety of the matter in the van on their way home, making Seungyoun realize how badly he'd messed up.

"Yeokshi, Cho Seungyoun," Seungyoun remembered how Wooseok teasingly cooed, loud enough for everyone to hear. He was on his phone, probably looking through the previews of the photos fans took of them during their first fansite.

"What," Seungyoun responded, only paying the other member half of his attention as he looked outside the window. He knew that tone and if he suspected it correctly, Wooseok was up to no good.

" _Co-workers,_ huh?" Wooseok said, giving him a mischievous side glance.

The younger members clamored to ask what Wooseok was on about and the pretty boy indulged, explaining the sticky note question that Seungyoun got and how he answered it.

At first, Seungyoun was quite proud of this prank(?) he pulled but oh, how badly things backfired when Wooseok went on to continue informing the members (including Seungyoun himself) of how Hangyul got the same question and how differently the younger answered it. Because  _that, _Seungyoun didn't know.

Why did Hangyul have to get the same question and why did his answer have to be so damn lovely? It was everything Seungyoun wanted to be true and everything that made him regret the way he answered the question when it was asked to him about Hangyul.

Seungyoun sank on his seat and could not so much chance a glance at Hangyul's general direction out of both guilt and shock, while the van erupted in howls and cheers, laughing at the picture of unrequited love that their answers, put side-by-side, painted.

"It's a one-sided love," Dongpyo's playful voice still rang clearly in Seungyoun's ears, laying the guilt thick on his conscience.

He could also recall forcing out a laugh that didn't sound natural at all, even to his own ears. Then, he strained his ears to pick out Hangyul's voice above the noise to see how the younger was reacting to it. But all he heard was Hangyul's deep, gruff, brief chuckle that didn't sound as mirthful as the laugh of someone wholly unaffected.

Seungyoun hoped then his seat had an eject button. 

He could still remember rushing to go inside the bathroom to check for himself whether or not Hangyul was really asked the same question, too, as soon as they got inside their dorms; could still recall feeling the blood drain out from his face as he stared at the screen and confirmed it.

_"Who is Seungyoun to Hangyul?" _ And the younger ticked all of it: _Co-worker, Roommate, Lover, Human, etc. _

Right then and there, he regretted ticking just "Co-Worker" mostly because he'd done it for very petty purposes. He's stupid, ok? It was also his idiotic way of giving Hangyul an excuse to ask how he qualified as nothing but a "Co-Worker" to Seungyoun. He thought he'd have a field day being chased around by a Hangyul who will be demanding for some sort of explanation but joke's on himself, Seungyoun realized.

He shifted in his bed and wondered how much longer he had to wait before the younger calls it a day and enters their room.

He prides himself for knowing Hangyul better than most and his gut is telling him right now that Hangyul purposefully coming into their room late had everything to do with the whole "Co-Worker" fiasco.  Maybe Hangyul wanted to avoid him at all costs. Which also meant that Hangyul may have feelings for him, too, because from the outside, it should mean nothing much to both of them. 

Stuff like these are meant to be taken as just jokes between friends. But _just_ _friends_ is not what they were... right?

Seungyoun wanted their feelings to be mutual but he acknowledged how badly it will complicate things, too. It wouldn't have been a big deal, really, if it was Seungwoo or Wooseok entangled in this exact same situation with him. It would have been a different story. But this was Lee Hangyul.

Lee Hangyul whose toothy smile made Seungyoun's heart race, whose deep gruff voice he loved hearing right before he drifted off to sleep, whose lips made him think of... things. Lee Hangyul whom he adored beyond any lyrics he could possibly compose--

The sound of the doorknob turning made Seungyoun's eyes widen, and streams of light from the corridor slowly pierced through the darkness of their room as the door was cracked open.

Hangyul's silhouette was easy to make out in the dark because Seungyoun's eyes had grown accustomed to the darkness from the long wait. So to let the younger know that he, too, was still awake, Seungyoun mumbled a simple bt strained, "Hey." He hoped that his voice sounded steady enough.

Hangyul obviously started at Seungyoun's voice, adding only to the older's assumption that Hangyul really was avoiding entering the room until he was sure the older was asleep.

Then Seungyoun saw Hangyul reach over to flick on the light switch, but not before the younger obviously made an effort to school his features into a neutral expression.

Seungyoun frowned at that. He never wanted to make Hangyul upset or even the least bit insecure about... well,  _them._ Whatever they were, dammit.

"Hyung," Hangyul said, not meeting Seungyoun's eyes and pretending to fuss over his cute slippers, "Why are you still up?"

Seungyoun's heart sank at the way Hangyul acted and sounded nonchalant. It made him wish for the nth time that he had just answered the damned sticky note question truthfully and forgone being his naughty self for once if that would mean that he and Hangyul could preserve the current comfort level of their friendship. But it was too late.

Hangyul's question hung in the air for a moment and when he got no answer from the older, he turned the lights back off and began tucking himself in bed, as if he didn't care for whether Seungyoun answered his question or not. 

_Ouch, okay._

So Seungyoun threw the covers off of his legs and decided to just wing it. 

*

Hangyul didn't expect Seungyoun to still be awake when he decided to go to bed just a few minutes shy of two in the morning. Well, scratch that. Hangyul actually  _hoped_ Seungyoun wasn't anymore awake by the time he entered their room.

That is why he stayed outside to watch TV in their common area for as long as his eyes could keep themselves open. He needed a distraction and he didn't want to be left alone to his own thoughts, so he was glad when two other people—and some of his closest members at that, too—joined him and unknowingly helped keep him up and away from his Seungyoun hyung for a while.

It really hurt Hangyul when he realized that Seungyoun got the exact same question from a fan,_ "Who is Hangyul to Seungyoun?"_ and that the older deemed him worthy of just one very trivial and shallow title—Co-Worker. Huh.

And Hangyul was awfully aware of why it hurt. He really thought they had begun having something special between them. Maybe he'd read a lot of situations wrong. Maybe his big fat crush on Seungyoun made his brain see things that weren't there, and detect signals that weren't there.

A feeling of dread and self-pity formed at the pit of his stomach.

Hangyul had always had well-hidden deeply-seated insecurities that he suspects root from his history as an abandoned—no, adopted child—no matter how confidently he may appear to others. So he guessed it just really poked at these said insecurities to once again be "rejected" in this manner. And to rub salt to the wound, it was done by Cho Seungyoun, who was everything Hangyul wanted to be. Cho Seungyoun who was everything Hangyul wanted.

So he forced himself to close his eyes despite his heavy heart. He's just going to sleep it off and hope that when he wakes up in the morning, he wasn't so upset about something so trivial anymore, and wasn't so hung up on this guy Cho Seungyoun anymore. It's going to be a long five years ahead of--

His thoughts were cut off, his eyes flew open, and his mouth hung wide when he felt the bed dip and a person—Cho Seungyoun—slinked his lean, tall body between Hangyul's arms, burying his face on the younger's chest like a kitten.

"I'm sorry," came Seungyoun's muffled voice as Hangyul blinked in shock, heart hammering against his chest. "Don't avoid me, please," the older said in a small voice that was achingly familiar to Hangyul.

It was a tone that carried uncertainties and insecurities, so it came a surprise that Lee Hangyul would hear ever-effervescent, confident, and optimistic Cho Seungyoun use that tone. It didn't make sense at all to hear it from this person of all people.

"Seungyoun hyung," Hangyul dumbly muttered, willing his body to not be so tense but how was that possible when your favorite person in the world was in your arms, burying his face on your chest.  _What even was happening right now? _ He attempted to manoeuvre their bodies into a more comfortable position and opened his lips to continue, "Hyung, what--"

But Seungyoun wrapped an arm around his waist, pulled him even closer, and cut him off. "Nooooo," Seungyoun whined like a kid, curling into an even smaller ball of anxiety against Hangyul's body. "Don't say anything. I just wanted to apologize and let you know that it wasn't true. The sticky note question. It's not one-sided. So please don't be upset at me anymore, Hangyul-ah."

_It's not one-sided._ That particular phrase resounded inside Hangyul's head and he let it. He savored it and dwelled on it. Turned it over this way and that, looking for a corner, some space, anything about it to misunderstand. And he found none.  _Freaking Cho Seungyoun-ssi, _Hangyul thought.

More than an apology, it was, if anything, a downright confession. One that he neither expected nor had the power to turn away. He couldn't believe it. That he could be on the receiving end of the affection of someone as well-loved by everyone as Cho Seungyoun.

But it can't be helped. Even if there was a bunch of other more pressing questions, one (rhetorical) question rang louder than the other inside Hangyul's mind: What else was there to do when  _the_ Cho Seungyoun was in your arms, confessing, and acting all whiny and clingy and apologetic?

A small smile formed in Hangyul's lips as the tension in his body born out of both confusion and the skinship that Seungyoun initiated, started melting away. "I'm not..." Hangyul whispered as he debated whether it was okay to wrap an arm around Seungyoun's shoulder or not, "...anymore." In the end, Hangyul gave in to the urge and pulled the older closer and tighter against him. 

"I'm glad," Seungyoun confessed against the thin fabric of Hangyul's shirt, making the younger feel all sorts of other things.

"But what are we doing, hyung?"

There was it. The question that mattered the most. The question which wasn't as easily answered as one might reckon.

But Seungyoun surprised Hangyul when, instead of answering, he pushed himself up to plant a small kiss at the underside of the younger's jaw. "I think you know what we are doing, Hangyul-ah."

"What?" The younger blinked at the ceiling, feeling the skin around the area which Seungyoun kissed tingle, even as Seungyoun finally let him shift their bodies so that the older was pillowing Hangyul's shoulder, his head tucked right under the younger's chin.

"We're snuggling," Seungyoun said simply, as if it was the most uncomplicated thing in the world. As if them snuggling didn't string along a million of other questions.

"We are?" Hangyul asked, still struggling to keep up.

Seungyoun answered with a giggle, draping himself all over Hangyul, even entangling their legs together. "Yes, it seems that way,  Lee Hangyul-ssi. "

*

"You're so mean!" Seungyoun declaredthe next day as soon as he entered the room where Hangyul was snickering at his phone as he saw his new sticky note answer being spread all over Twitter.

_"Who is Seungyoun to Hangyul?" _Hangyul was asked for the second time but this time, it was his turn to be petty. _Just another person._

Revenge was sweet.

"Well, whatever do you mean, Cho Seungyoun-ssi?" Hangyul feigned innocence, complete with a hand dramatically placed over his heart.

"I hate you!" Seungyoun said, even while his feet automatically dragged themselves towards Hangyul's bed instead of his own.

The younger welcomed him with open arms. He knew the older really wasn't furious at him because if he was, he wouldn't be forcing Hangyul to spoon him right now. "Do you really?" Hangyul teased as he comfortably assumed the position of big spoon.

Seungyoun grabbed Hangyul's hand and intertwined their fingers with each other. "Yes, _Co-Worker_," he answered, and Hangyul could practically _hear_ the eye-roll accompanying the tone in the older's voice.

"But we aren't even co-workers," Hangyul joked, "You're just another person to me, Cho Seungyoun-ssi!" He made to extract his fingers and unwind his arms from around Seungyoun if only to see the older protest.

Which the older did without missing a beat. "Stop," Seungyoun whined, finding the dose of his own medicine hard to swallow. "We're boyfriends," he confidently declared as he turned so that they were lying face to face.

Hangyul paled at Seungyoun's words and his own coherent thoughts seemed to fly out the window. He was glad Seungyoun's eyes were closed and the furious blush that had his face heating up wouldn't be seen, because he honest to goodness didn't know how to respond to that.

"Unless you don't want to be, of course," Seungyoun added with a shrug, not opening his eyes, as he inched closer to Hangyul who was still at a loss for words. "I could live with being your _Just Another Person_, too."

Hangyul couldn't seem to follow.

"Just for now," Seungyoun added with finality. "I still get to do this either way anyways." He pressed a soft kiss at the exposed skin of Hangyul's neck, making the younger sputter out all sorts of incoherent sounds.

Hangyul wasn't sure how to respond to Seungyoun and to the kiss that was obviously strategically placed where the older knew it would reduce Hangyul to putty. But he thankfully didn't have to come up with a response because in less than a minute, Seungyoun's breaths had became slow & steady, and he'd stopped stirring within the younger's embrace.

Seungyoun had fallen asleep.

A soft, fond smile formed in Hangyul's lips as he brought his head down to place a chaste peck at the top of the older's head. "What am I going to do with you, Cho Seungyoun-ssi?" he whispered in the dark.

It was now clear how they felt about each other. But they fortunately had time to solve and/or eliminate the other pressing concerns associated with this. Five years gave them more than enough time. Five years was a long time. And Hangyul wasn't complaining.

**Author's Note:**

> icb i let myself debut as a seungyul writer with this one. i apologize but uwu seungyul nation rise
> 
> to my monoshippistic weishin twt friend who cAnT ship seungyul due to self-imposed age limits, if you're ever reading this, forgive me. i have failed. lol
> 
> feel free to feed me seungyul content anytime over at [twitter](http://twitter.com/choimineul) or at [curiouscat](http://curiouscat.me/choimineul)


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